Tales of a Shoebox Princess

1. When you have a big meeting in the evening, and you need photos, it's best not to wait until 3:30 p.m. to ask your mother where the pictures (from the project back in July that the meeting is about) are in the computer and how to print them. Especially when the mother has to pick up two other children from school right at 3:30 and she is still technically at work. And also especially since you slept in until 11:30 a.m. and have been piddling around since getting out of bed. 2. When your mother comes to pick you up from school and asks, "How was your jazz band performance this morning?", know that your knowledge and understanding of standard word usage, a.k.a. "proper grammar," and the situation you are in, a.k.a. in the van with your mother who is a "grammar nazi,"will dictate that you do not answer "we did good" unless you mean that you and the rest of the jazz band members went about doing charitable acts and performing service to thos...

Things I should be doing instead of blogging: Putting ornaments on the Christmas tree Cleaning off the counter and table Folding laundry Encouraging the cat not to eat the other cat's vomit (although I don't want to clean it up myself either)(I can't watch or else I might vomit) Polishing silver (really)(for Katie and Christian's MN open house. You're coming, aren't you?) Showering Going over my seminary lesson once more But instead I'm posting pictures and a story from Matt's band concert on Monday night. Trombone power Story about this part to follow Concert reading Before I start my story, see the band director behind Matt? When we first started going to middle school band concerts 10 years ago, we thought this director was one of the kids in the band and that the main director had let him direct a song. Seriously, we thought he was 15 years old. He looks a little older now, and we know for sure that he's older because he h...

I can. These were all taken by Jen of hawleyfocus (with the possible exception of the very last one). We like her photography skillz. We also like her. Under the olive tree bouquets Bride and bridesmaids Boys don't like to watch kissing The wedding party male contingent looking very manly He couldn't stop kissing her--and right in front of her parents! And his! Very happy! A bunch of people who showed up

This is a story from the wedding. It is 100% true. Most of you have probably heard the story, but I'm going to tell it anyway. Sunday morning of our Utah trip was spent slowly getting ready for church. Daylight Savings had kicked in so we were up early with plenty of time to spare before we had to head over to the Tanner Building on BYU campus for Paul's ordination in his priesthood class.  As we were getting ready, Jim grabbed the suit bag for the suit he brought, which he was going to wear both to church and to the wedding and reception. He bought the suit a few months before and had the pants tailored to fit. He unzipped the suitbag and eased the suit coat out. Then he reached in for the suit pants. But he couldn't find them.  "I think I left my pants in Minnesota," he said with a perplexed look on his face. He was so sure he had packed them.  No suit pants anywhere. All he could find were jeans. We still had an hour before we had to be at the church ...

I just watched my baby get married.  I got to hover over her all morning, while everyone else had to wait in the waiting room for her to get ready. I got to hover afterwards while everyone waited outside for her and her new husband to exit the building. I was the first one to see what she looked like in her bridal finery.  She was a beautiful bride.  I'll post pictures as soon as I get some.  She picked a good young man. He picked a precious young lady. *Sniff*

Except we aren't old. Our friendship might be getting up there in years, but we aren't. Certainly not my friend, who does not look as old as we technically are. I knew Beth from my early years. We went to the same church and she was my age. She might younger than I in years, but I felt she was older and wiser, mostly because she had all older siblings and "knew" things that I didn't, I having been the oldest of my set of sibs with no one to tell me about how boys operated, what music is cool, or how to avoid being a dork. Even during the high school years (Beth went to a different school), in my eyes, Beth exuded cool. She would not agree with me, I'm fairly sure, but I didn't know that then. Teenagers are not known for effective communication skills, are they? How was Beth cool? Her hair. She had a wicked mane of blond hair that she could get to look really big. She laughs about her hairstyle then, but I still secretly love 80s big hair. She had aweso...

I have a good friend Pam who loves to have parties. (I suggest you all get yourself a friend who likes to have parties) I was feeling a little down and out a few months ago when I realized that Kate would be having bridal showers without me. I was not despondent, but the corners of my mouth were turned down just a hair more than normal. But this good friend of mine, sensing in herself the opportunity to host a party, approached me and asked if she could plan and throw Katie a Skype bridal shower. (Y'all know what Skype is, right?) I thought what a fun idea! I could be a part of a bridal shower for my daughter using the wonders of technology!  And my good friend did not disappoint! She goes all out to decorate. We'll start off the picture fest with one of ME. Because you all need a little more me in your life, right? The table. On the right are candies that are either purple (who knew that purple Twizzlers existed?) or wrapped in purple foil Macaroons--YUMMY! ...

Although not so much obligatory as "for posterity's sake." As in so I can remember what costumes the kids wore each year. Because I like to keep track of those things. Hayley had been working on her costume since summer time. She sewed stuff for it, but in her own way; without a pattern, without instructions, willy-nilly, making a mess, hounding me for help with a collar. She likes to create things, but doesn't want too much structure telling her how to do it. And she got a hat and a Pikachu backpack free from some website (she is always getting packages in the mail. It's a bit worrisome, but she claims they are all freebies). But here she is: yes, she sewed the gloves. "Ash Ketchum" from Pokemon series.  Matt had no clue what he wanted to be for Halloween, which was kind of hard to believe since he was the one who went as Dirt and as Fire and one year as "an explosion of Mario" and last year as Jake the Dog. But when kids from th...

This is an off year for me as far as Halloween goes. I'm caught up in preparing for the wedding. And working. And teaching seminary. I'm blogging about last night's event: Hayley's band concert. It was a fun concert, mostly because it wasn't held in the auditorium, but in the BAND ROOM. See, the fall concert band has only 18 members. The rest of the band students take marching band in the fall. Hayley is the lone sophomore in the band and the only sophomore who was excused from being in marching band because we are favorites of the band teacher. Heehee, no not really. She was excused from marching band because she plays bassoon and bassoons aren't marching band instruments. So the director decided that rather than have a small group perform in a gigantic room, we'd have a little coffeehouse style concert in the band room. He set up tables (and cleaned the band room--Katie, you would be very proud) and chairs, asked everyone to bring a dessert in lieu o...

We leave for UT in two weeks. Then a few days after that, we'll gain another son and Katie will change her last name. Weird. But good. And there is still so much to do. So, while I am getting stuff done (like sewing Hayley's dress for the wedding and purchasing shoes) you can look at a couple of pictures of the happy couple.

I scanned a photo album's worth of pictures into my electronic repository. The photos are from 1999-2000. Here are some of Hayley that I am particularly fond of. I love how Hayley folded her feet underneath her when she went to sleep here Hayley and an amaryllis She chose to use a pillowcase as a sleeping bag and here she fell asleep on a giant Pikachu. The children are still mourning the loss of this stuffed animal. It's their fault that it had to be thrown away--they loved it to shreds. Hayley and her version of a smile. Easter dresses and a rubber snake The little cheeky! She looks so different now.

Matt asked for a simple party with three friends to play the Wii with him. Maybe a little pizza and cake. No presents, just some laffs with three boys he has known for years (two of them since birth, and the other is a cousin of one of the boys he has known from birth and has gotten to know over the years and has become very good friends with). An easier birthday party there has never been, at least in my house. Matt asked for his birthday presents to be given to him a day early, mostly because he guessed one of them was going to be a Wii game and he wanted to play it with his friends. So we indulged the boy and let him open his gifts this morning. Labeled for your convenience He's nearly 14 and he still wants Legos. I suppose he'll be asking for Legos into his adult years. When he gets Legos, he puts he set together in 5 minutes. Then he loses a figure, wails about it for a while, then we find it under a couch cushion several months later, and then he asks for an...

H B as in Happy Birthday. Happy birthday to Matt. His birthday is Sunday, his party is on Saturday and today is Friday. Stuff I gotta do: 1. Bake a cake 2. Frost the cake 3. Decorate the cake 4. Wrap some presents 5. Go to someone else's birthday dinner 6. Make dessert bars for a Super Saturday event 7. Mail wedding invitations 8. Knit 5 more dishcloths, possibly 7 or 10 9. Print out some pictures for a bridal shower next week 10. Not go crazy Fortunately I don't work today (although I will answer calls and I will make some calls later) so I have a better chance at getting some of those things done than most days. And I already have the decorative icing made. Matt will be 14. When did this happen?

I posted pics of Hayley in her pretties, now I have to do the same for Matt. Although his pretties aren't ruffly and ribbony and flowery. Matt has a suit! We got it for him to wear to the upcoming wedding. Doesn't he look darling and cute and spiffy? Jim said it was difficult to find Matt a suit because most major retailers don't carry kid sizes. The smallest adult size is too big for him still. Still need for the wedding: shoes and jewelry for me, shoes and jewelry for Hayley and I need to sew Hayley's dress. Also, invitations are either in the mail or not quite in the mail. Keep an eye out for yours!

Play Killer Bunnies! Hayley went to Homecoming with a friend last night. We had never met the young man (and Hayley insists they are just friends), so when I asked "What are you going to do before Homecoming?" I was most pleased with her answer. She said that perhaps could he eat here for dinner and then could we all play Killer Bunnies? I'm all for parental supervision, so I was happy to say yes. We had a nice evening with Kyle. He was polite and he didn't seem put off by eating dinner with parents. We had chili, cornbread, and salad. We learned that he's an only child and he doesn't have any cousins, which I can't even fathom. Then we cleared the table and played a very loud game of Killer Bunnies. Kyle has played lots of Killer Bunnies so we didn't have to go through the onerous, time consuming task of trying to explain it to him. It takes a very long time to try to explain and in the end we usually give up and tell the newbie let's just s...

Because of the news that LDS young men can now be considered for a missionary service at age 18, we face the possibility of having two sons serving concurrently. Paul has a big decision to make, now that he is suddenly eligible for missionary service. It will be a great act of faith on his part and ours to get him to Elder status sooner than he had originally planned, so we ask for your prayers. No decision has been made yet, and for sure he will finish this semester at college. We are excited for our niece Morgan, who will be able to serve 2 years sooner than planned because the age for young women was lowered to 19. She will make a great missionary! From what I see on facebook, her foot is already out the door. My pipe dream: That Paul will get called in Feb to Tijuana and that he's assigned to work with another Elder Evans.

I've spent most of the day by myself. Hayley ditched me for friends and shopping, and Jim and Matt went on a bike ride in Wisconsin. The trail was an old rail line that had been converted to a bike path. They went 22 miles on it from Elroy to Sparta. The weather was perfect for a long bike ride. The trees were decked out in their finest fall colors. They went through two tunnels, one a half mile, and the second was nearly a mile. Jim says you could see the dot of the light at the other end, but it was a LONG tunnel, you think you'd walked a long way, and then you'd look back and the entrance behind you was still closer than the one you were walking to. To make it even more challenging, it was dark. There were no lights in these tunnels and they had to walk the bikes the entire length. Jim brought a couple of headlamps along which was a good thing because some of the kids didn't bring flashlights. The other thing about the tunnels was that they were surprisingly cold a...